


Logical Observation

by methylviolet10b



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Crack, Fluff, Gen, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-20 03:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/methylviolet10b/pseuds/methylviolet10b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John just has to know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Logical Observation

**Author's Note:**

> Written for JWP #13: **One of those days:** Murphy's Law says that when things can go wrong, they will.  
>  **Warnings** : Pretty close to, if not entirely, crack. **And absolutely no beta.** This was written in a complete rush. You have been warned.

  
  
  
“Wait,” John interrupted Sherlock, something he almost never did, and maybe the surprise of it led to it actually working. Sherlock stopped talking long enough for John to get a word in edgewise. “You believe in Murphy’s Law?”  
  
He had good reason for his incredulity. After having witnessed Sherlock belittle every kind of superstition – from rolling his eyes at the St. Christopher medal worn by a sailor client, to loudly mocking a hotel magnate for his properties skipping from 12 to 14, with no 13th floor, to practically throwing a conniption when Mrs. Hudson scolded him about the bad luck involved in breaking her mirror – John would have sworn that the detective was entirely free of such 'irrational notions' (his words) himself.  
  
True to form, Sherlock gave him a withering look. “I don’t _believe_ in it, not the way you mean. I am, however, a detective. I _observe_. And in my observations, those incidents attributed to ‘Murphy’s Law’ are almost always based in _human fallacy_ – in failures of systems designed by humans, or in people failing to think or act intelligently.”  
  
“So to you, Murphy’s Law…”  
  
“Is simply a logical inference based on observation and experience that has been codified by most people, quite erroneously, as a superstitious belief in that things will go wrong simply because ‘they can,’ without any real understanding of the underlying truth.”  
  
“I see.” John pursed his lips. “So the fact that we’re stuck in an old elevator after hours, one whose emergency phone is out of order, with no one the wiser as to where we are despite an official sign-in register in the building and multiple requests by Lestrade to be kept informed, and with a mobile that is utterly useless thanks to its dead battery – which would have been charged if the phone had been in my pocket last night, instead of having been ‘borrowed’ – is due to…?”  
  
“Shut up, John.”  
  
John nodded, and tried not to smirk. “That’s what I thought.”  
  
And of course just then the light went out, depriving him of seeing the look Sherlock had on his face at John’s reply.  
  
Murphy’s Law.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted July 13, 2013


End file.
